If you listen too much to doubts you're totally lost.

A good collaboration I think it's really, truly a vibe thing. The people who are most excited about collaborations are people in the business, people who are thinking, "This is going to be great press," or, "This is going to expose you to all these people you haven't reached before." I prefer not to think like that. I'm more, if you meet the person, you like the person, you've talked to them, you feel connected, you feel like there's a creative exchange, then it kind of happens by itself. I'm open to it, but it has to feel right. If it feels forced, then I'm fearful of doing it.

Have your own definition of success. Figure it out for yourself. If you really want to be the next Rihanna or whatever you've got to understand what that takes. Or if you want to be the Brian Eno - or whatever it is - who knows? Define for yourself what success means.

I am a creative person and it's important for me to get that out there, kind of like eating food. It's something I need to do to feel happy. It's some kind of drive and I don't know how to explain what the reason is, but it's something I have a need to do.

I feel like there are a lot of artists that you could put together that you love, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to make amazing music. Giving an artist a great theme to write about doesn't mean the song's going to be good.

Keep at something even when you don't feel inspired. Don't wait for inspiration! I write a lot of songs that are terrible, in the hopes that one song that has something special comes out of it. Just stay at something, and write every day if you're writing lyrics.

Once you've had a real taste of touring it's like, "Okay, it's pretty amazing that we have real fans and we can go out and play shows," but you start to feel a personal need, like, "Okay, I think it's time to go home for a minute."